You are not buying a machine. You are deciding what the house must still be able to do when the power goes out.
Local option: New Plan Care gives families in the St. Louis area in-home help so a parent can stay home: companionship, help with bathing and dressing, meals, and overnight care. Call (314) 405-0887.
Start with your mother's ordinary day. Follow it from waking through the night, and write down every part that depends on electricity. Then ask each installer to build a proposal around the same list. A generator that keeps a few convenient outlets live may still leave the bedroom too hot, the garage door shut, or an essential device without power.
These are the six things to settle before you commit.
1. The house has to hold a safe temperature
What makes it hold: Identify the exact heating and cooling equipment the generator would serve. Ask whether the proposal covers the furnace blower, boiler controls, air conditioner, heat pump, thermostats, and any pumps needed by the system. Do not accept a promise to power the heating or cooling without seeing the equipment named in writing.
Ask what can run at the same time. A generator may be able to start one large load but not another. Have the installer explain what your mother would need to turn off before the heating or cooling can run, and whether she could actually manage that sequence.
Make it a care-team question when: Your mother has been told to avoid heat or cold, cannot notice or report that a room is becoming uncomfortable, or relies on another person to adjust clothing, bedding, or temperature. Ask what indoor conditions should prompt a call and what the backup destination is if the house cannot stay comfortable.
2. The house has to hold the devices she depends on
What makes it hold: Make a room-by-room list of powered equipment she uses. Include items plugged into the wall, items charged between uses, and equipment that contains its own battery. Record the label information, plug type, normal location, and whether the device must run continuously or only at certain times.
Give that list to the installer. Ask which outlets will remain powered, whether extension cords would be needed, and how those cords would cross the room. Ask how you will know that each chosen outlet is on generator power. Keep device manuals with the generator instructions so no one has to guess during an outage.
Make it a care-team question when: A device supports breathing, feeding, medication storage, movement, communication, or another part of her care. Ask the care team and equipment supplier what backup the device already has, how long that backup is meant to last, and what to do if power cannot be restored. The generator plan should support that answer, not replace it.
3. The house has to hold a usable route through the day
What makes it hold: Walk the routes your mother uses after dark. Start at her bed and continue to the bathroom, kitchen, favorite chair, stairs, and every exit she might need. Mark the lights and outlets that must work. Check whether stair lifts, powered recliners, door openers, elevators, garage doors, or well pumps are part of those routes.
Ask the installer to show you which circuits serve them. A label such as bedroom may not tell you whether it includes the lamp beside the bed or only the ceiling light. If something will not be powered, decide now what the workable substitute is.
Make it a care-team question when: The outage plan changes how she gets out of bed, reaches the toilet, transfers from a chair, uses stairs, or leaves the house. Ask whether the substitute route still fits the help she can safely accept from the person who will be there.
4. The house has to hold food, water, and communication
What makes it hold: Decide whether the generator needs to serve the refrigerator, freezer, cooking equipment, well pump, water heater, internet equipment, telephone equipment, and chargers. Separate what must work continuously from what can be powered for a short period.
Ask how loads will be managed if these items cannot all run together. Write the sequence in plain language and place it near the controls. Include the phone number for service and the location of flashlights, chargers, drinking water, and food that does not depend on the stove.
Make it a care-team question when: Food or medicine has special storage instructions, drinking and meals require hands-on help, or loss of phone service would leave your mother unable to summon the person responsible for her care. Confirm the storage and outage instructions with the appropriate care or equipment contact.
5. The house has to hold the work of starting, fueling, and checking the system
What makes it hold: Ask each seller to demonstrate the entire outage routine. Find out whether the generator starts automatically, what happens if it does not, how fuel is supplied, who checks the fuel level, and who calls for service. If fuel must be stored or delivered, ask where it can be kept and how a delivery reaches the equipment.
Ask what the weekly or monthly checks involve, who performs scheduled maintenance, and how you will recognize a warning light, alarm, leak, or failed test. Put names beside every job. Your mother should not become the operator by default simply because the generator is at her house.
Make it a care-team question when: The plan expects her to lift, carry, walk outside, follow a switching sequence, hear an alarm, read a display, or remember a maintenance task. If she cannot reliably do that work, name the person or service that will.
6. The house has to hold the exhaust, noise, weather, and repair plan
What makes it hold: Have the installer show you the proposed location before you sign. Ask how exhaust will be kept away from doors, windows, vents, and places where people sit. Ask how the unit will be protected from water, snow, plants, and stored objects without blocking the clear space it needs.
Stand in your mother's bedroom and main chair while someone marks the proposed location outside. Ask what she will hear during a long run. Confirm what permits, inspections, utility coordination, fuel work, electrical work, and site preparation are included. Ask who is responsible for each unfinished part.
Get the service path in writing. It should say whom you call, whether emergency service is available, what routine maintenance is required, and what could limit the warranty. Keep the final circuit list, operating instructions, inspection record, and service contact together inside the house.
Make it a care-team question when: Noise may keep her from sleeping or hearing a helper, she cannot leave the house if exhaust or equipment trouble is suspected, or the backup plan requires a move that is hard for her. Decide who can come, where she can go, and who has authority to make that call.
Compare the proposals against one outage
Give every installer the same written scenario: the power is out, it is nighttime, your mother is in bed, and you are not in the house. Ask the installer to walk you through what starts, what stays off, what she has to do, what the helper has to do, and what happens if the generator does not start.
Compare the answers line by line. Look for named circuits, included work, operating steps, maintenance duties, service contacts, and the loads that cannot run together. The strongest proposal is the one that leaves the fewest unnamed jobs for your mother or for you.
The promise is not that the house will never lose power. It is that an outage will not turn into a frantic search for the missing plan.